Coney Island

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Visitors celebrate New Years Day on Coney Island beach

Coney Island is a peninsula (formerly an island) in Brooklyn, New York. It is famous for its beaches, amusements like the Cyclone wooden roller coaster, Parachute Jump, and Wonder Wheel ferris wheel, boardwalk, and hot dogs. It became a seaside resort in the 19th century.

It is unsure how Coney Island got its name. It may be because when the Dutch people arrived in New Netherland, this island had many rabbits, so they named it 'Konijn Island', which became 'Coney Island', using the archaic term for rabbit in English. It also may have been named by an Irish pirate, for islands in Sligo bay!